" you... " Aesop was backing away, his eyes set on Joseph as he did so. The red color on his clothes would usually have been brushed off as paint or something related to his garden, but not this time. That metallic smell and the scene behind him was enough to tell Aesop what it actually was. That crimson color that stained Joseph's clothes and hands were nothing else but blood.
There had been signs previously, clear signs now that Aesop thought about it, but he always dismissed it. Now he was faced with the harsh reality of his ignorance.
With his back to the wall, he kept on staring at the other, unsure on what to do or actually say. No matter what he wanted to say, nothing in this situation would be right. Aesop always thought he knew Joseph, that he knew what this man was up to and that he never would be ever able to do something so terrible, yet here he was, proven wrong about such a thought.
The most logical thing to do, would be to turn around and run away. Even if Joseph said he wouldn't hurt him, it didn't help the fact that what Aesop had just seen was enough to prove that Joseph could be very well lying to him. ( Not that he already didn't with this gruesome discovery) " Don't.... Don't come closer... "
Joseph stood up, gently calling out, "Aesop." As he held his hands up to his shoulders, "It's okay." He took a slow step forward and tossed the bloody pair of bone clippers to the floor.
He knew what Aesop was thinking. He knew Aesop was scared, and Joseph couldn't blame him. He hadn't expected Aesop to come over so late, not when the man had classes in the morning, so Joseph had gone out for a short time. He hadn't thought to lock his door, nor the door to his basement. He'd been busy, kneeling and chopping up some shoulder joints, humming a merry tune. Then the door had opened, and he'd turned around to see Aesop in the room.
Joseph may have been able to lie and say it was road kill if the skintone wasn't tan, and the head wasn't clearly visible. Blood splattered, long hair, and not yet separated from the body. Unfortunate that Joseph had only just started to cut up this beast when Aesop stepped in.
He pushed that thought out of his mind. Right now, he needed to be calm. Gentle. If he acted angry or out-of-line, Aesop would bolt. Joseph needed to be very careful. "Aesop," he continued gently, "I'm not going to hurt you. I promise."
And he wouldn't. Not intentionally. Aesop wasn't an animal, nor a harlot. Aesop was his lover, his everything. Everything he had left.
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